Subjugation
by TheBatmen
Summary: Naruto, DBZ, and W.I.T.C.H crossover. Mature rating for vulgar language, violence, and adult references/themes. AU and has numerous OCs. Naruto & DBZ characters are introduced in the second chapter. This is a WEIRD story. Members from the Naruto, DBZ, and W.I.T.C.H worlds are kidnapped by an odd species (the batmen) and a month later are caught in the middle of a batmen war.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, DBZ, or W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

Bryan awoke in darkness and sat up in his couch. He heard thunder and saw the streaks of lightning through the window.

His eyelids felt glued together yet he knew he wouldn't sleep for a while. This damn couch was made of stone. He had insisted Cornelia take the bed. He was a gentleman after all, but it would have been nice to sleep on something soft. _Especially with her beside me,_ he thought.

He stood and walked into the kitchen. He flicked the light switch. It didn't work. He didn't know the power could go out here. It almost made him feel that he was home.

There was still water in the water pump. He guzzled a glass of it down and returned to his couch. His eyes wandered.

A flash of lightning swept through the room. Bryan thought he saw a man's silhouette and jumped to his feet. The effulgence left and so did it, but he should still be able to see in this moonlight.

Another flash of lightning, and he saw a batman's jagged smile. "Howdy. My name's Bob. Imma kill ya."

Bryan yelled, tossed himself over the couch, and managed to make a balanced landing.

The batman tugged a leaf-bladed dagger out of the couch. It chuckled and stabbed at him.

Bryan sidestepped the batman's thrust and grabbed hold of its arm and head. It felt cold and slimy like seaweed. He pushed it against the wall.

" _Fuck._ " The batman hissed and lashed out with its free arm. It connected with Bryan's nose and sent him crashing backwards onto the floor.

"Bryan!" Cornelia rushed out of the bedroom. Moonlight framed her small figure. It made her look surreal, as if she belonged in a painting. The batman lunged at her and suddenly it became a horror movie.

"Look out!"

She didn't see it fast enough, and Bryan didn't move fast enough. The batman cachinnated as she crumpled to the floor.

Bryan slammed his leg into the batman's neck. It crashed into the wall. He stomped on its head, and stomped again until it stopped moving. The batman was like a cockroach beneath his heel.

"Cornelia?"

She murmured.

Bryan touched her neck. Her heart pulsed slowly. _Ba bump. Ba bump. Ba bump._ He placed his hand on her stomach. It was hot, wet, and sticky. Blood.

His heart drummed fast. _Babump, babump, babump._ He lifted her up, pressed his hand against her wound as hard as he dared, and stumbled through the darkness toward the door. It was locked just the way it had been when night fell and they were ordered to sleep. Nothing should have gotten in.

Outside stank like soggy cow manure. The streetlights were dead and a dense humidity made the air thick and hard to inhale. He flew toward Liliana's dwelling, isolated and on the forest's edge, and hugged Cornelia closer to himself. His hand didn't budge from where she bled.

Bryan heard thunder explode and roar, and the air seemed to resound with it. And then he realized it wasn't thunder. It was a voice, some kind of howl. The night burst with screams, roars, laughter, and flashing lights.

There were more batmen than the one Bryan killed, and they were probably attacking his friends now, an army of them. He slowed down and landed. The ground seized his feet and wouldn't release him. Where to go? What to do?

" _What_ is going on out here?" Liliana's voice cracked and strained. She held a bright lantern above her head.

"Liliana!" Bryan rushed to her, feeling Cornelia limp in his arms. _Then I'll help fight off these bastards, or maybe Liliana will stop this._ "Some batman hurt Cornelia. You need to—"

"THERE SHE IS."

Liliana and her light disappeared before Bryan reached her. He heard her crying out before the batmen's laughter drowned her. _What's going on? Why are they attacking her?_

" _Blood in a cup_."

The batmen wailed like a pack of frightened coyotes then went silent. The lantern's light flickered, sputtered, and came alive. A red gash zigzagged down Liliana's face, crossed her twisted frown, and blood dripped onto her soiled pajamas. Gored and broken batmen surrounded her.

Bryan stopped in front of her and held out Cornelia. Liliana could revive the dead, even those mutilated by Edgar and Francis. Cornelia would be fine with just the push of a button and then maybe Liliana would put an end to all this. They could sleep again.

"I can't, darling." Liliana didn't even look. Her brows crinkled and she listened to the night's chaos, the whooping and the yelling, the sound of Bryan's friends fighting savages.

"What the hell do you mean?"

"My technology doesn't work," Liliana said. "The two Lords have been angry with us, and now they're here. We're under attack…"

"Look, I don't want to play your god damned games." Bryan pulled Cornelia back against him. She felt cold, and she was limp, and that pissed him off. "What's wrong with you? Just help her, okay?"

"I said I can't," Liliana snapped, and she raised the lantern so it leveled with his head. "And now I have to go. Your siblings are fighting to survive, and if you want Cornelia to live, you have to escape now."

Bryan gritted his teeth. He heard thunder again, and again he realized that it wasn't thunder. Now it sounded louder and closer.

"Well?" Liliana spoke quickly. "Go while you can, into the forest. I'll find you if I can, darling, but now my other babies need me." She left before he could say anything.

Bryan fled into the forest. His hand cramped from applying pressure to her wound, but it was glued to her and couldn't move if he tried. _She can't lose any more blood_ , he thought, and he didn't want to think about it any longer.

That thunderous voice echoed throughout the sky and through Bryan's mind, but both were growing distant. Liliana might have lied and might be using batmen to play a game with him, and he didn't care. The fear and the thumping of his heart told him it was real, and he wouldn't argue.

He flew for half an hour and heard nothing. His adrenaline abandoned him, and his body was tired, and his eyes wanted to rest. He landed and sat with his back against some fat tree.

Bryan took his stiff hand away from Cornelia's wound. He needed water to clean it, but this was a forest too close to batmen, and he was sure he wouldn't find any. He'd heard piss was just as good for this situation, but…

His hands trembled as he removed her long nightshirt. He didn't want to hurt her, and he didn't want to see her like this, covered in blood, the injury a batman inflicted on her, and yet he needed to. The bloodied cloth came off. The night was dark, but the moon gave him enough light to see and wipe away the blood. He tore off his shirt sleeve and laid it on the cut.

Bryan took the rest of his shirt off and slid it over her, each arm through the proper hole, and the head too. It took a while since she was unconscious. The drying blood made her nightshirt feel kind of crispy, like sand paper. He wrapped it around her stomach and tightened it, just in case her injury reopened. That was all he could do.

Cold wind bullied him. He gathered Cornelia up in his arms, lied down in soft grass, and waited.

It only got colder, and sleep evaded him hour after hour. He shivered, and Cornelia shivered, and he hated that. _Maybe I should go back_ , he thought. _Maybe these Lords left and everything's back to the way it was._ Not that anyone was happy the way it was.

Bryan didn't go back, though. Cornelia shivered atop him with her long golden hair everywhere, and he held her and tried to warm her with his bare arms.

When morning came he felt sore, no different than if he'd slept on the couch. Cornelia was on him. He felt her breathe and tremble, and thought he heard her whimper.

"Cornelia?" he said, slowly rising. She made no reply. Her forehead glistened with sweat, and her eyes were closed. Her lips parted to inhale. She'd grown hot overnight.

 _She's got a fever, an infection_. Of course she did. A batman cut her with some sort of sword, and the wound went untreated. _I'm a goddam dumbass._

Bryan stood. He'd find Liliana. She said she would search for him if she could, so maybe she was in the forest too. _And maybe she's laughing about this with Lionel and her batmen_.

Careful not to move much, he hugged Cornelia to his body and slowly flew in the direction he'd come from, or at least he thought. The night had vanished as quickly as it came, and his memories of it were faint.

He took it so slow it was painful. Everything looked similar and unfamiliar. Green trees, green grass, and green bushes. He found it hard to believe this much life thrived so close to batmen.

"Don't move."

Bryan stopped in midair.

"Don't you fucking move, bitch. It's not worth it."

"Francis? Is that you?" It was sad that he'd learned to differentiate between batmen voices.

"It's not worth it, you fucker, you little bitch." The batman's words drifted down from the treetops. "No man or beast or little girl may scorn me and live. Do not think that you can get away with what you have done. You have stuck your head in the crocodile's mouth, and now you shall lose it. You have leapt off a cliff believing that you can fly, and you cannot. You have—"

"Francis." Bryan scanned the shrubbery and floated closer.

"—opened a pack of cookies, and you could not eat all of them. Do you understand what I'm saying, you water-sucking apple? You messed with the wrong person. _You messed up_. Ooh, yes, you fucked up. Now you fucked up. Now you fucked up. _Now_ you fucked up. You have fucked up now."

"Francis."

"I'm going to kill you, you understand, bitch? It's not worth it, to run or hide or beg. I will find you. You mess with the bull—"

"Hey! Francis."

"—you get the horns." Francis's head popped out from a dense bundle of leaves. He stared at Bryan for a moment. "Yo. What is it?"

 _Yeah, what is it?_ _What do I expect from him?_ "Cornelia's hurt and I'm looking for Liliana."

The batman stared for another moment. His eyes were so wide and close together that he looked like a one eyed owl. "Show me her wound."

"No," Bryan said.

Francis stared for yet another moment. A smile appeared on his round, orange face.

Cornelia was torn from his grasp and he plummeted to the forest ground. He gasped in pain and his breath left him. A stick or something broke underneath his back, or maybe his back broke.

Francis stood over him. His massive arm crushed Bryan into the earth while he tugged at Cornelia's shirt with his mouth.

"What are you doing?" Bryan struggled beneath him but it was helpless. He was a mouse caught by a cat. A fat fucking cat.

Cornelia's makeshift bandage landed beside Bryan's head.

"Looks nice and juicy." Francis opened his mouth like a yawning horse and pressed his face onto Cornelia's stomach.

Bryan pushed as hard as he could and then he was free.

"That was yummy." Francis dropped Cornelia upon Bryan. "Let's meet up with Edgar. He and I have a city to reclaim."

 _How did he…?_ A sheet of Francis's saliva replaced Cornelia's wound. It was gone, just gone. Bryan couldn't imagine a batman was capable of this.

"Well?" Francis said. "Come with me, Alfred, my sexy shirtless manservant. We have shit to do."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, DBZ, or W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

They'd walked through this forest for close to an hour. Cornelia was still unconscious, and when Bryan asked Francis about it, he replied, "Of course, Alfred," and proceeded to ignore him.

At least he didn't have to worry about her bleeding, and her temperature was normal.

"We'll be there soon, Alfred," the batman said, just as he'd said nearly an hour ago.

The batman hadn't talked much. It was strange. Batmen loved their own voices as much as they loved their own gas, but whenever Bryan posed a question Francis told him to shut up.

It made Bryan feel like a bull was standing on his chest. He never saw a batman so subdued. _Maybe even that's a part of their game_ , he thought, he hoped.

Bryan almost stumbled. Did he _hope_ that they were playing another one of their fucked up games? That this chaos was just another lie? It was hell to be trapped and toyed with by batmen and crazy old ladies, but there they seemed to be safe. If all that recently transpired were true, what would they do?

"Follow me, Alfred." Francis flew down toward the ground.

Bryan did. They landed, and Francis waddled on. Pine needles, pinecones, and dirt stuck to the cape of greasy hair he dragged behind him.

"My babies!"

Small and powerful arms tore Bryan off his feet. Liliana cried on him and laughed and rocked him side to side so hard that he tightened his hold on Cornelia.

"Ooh, I searched and searched for you," she said. "I was so worried. I thought maybe you were caught or killed or slurped up like fish eyes or worse, but I _had_ to come here, to bring some of your siblings to safety."

"Okay, okay, put me down all right?"

She did not. "Oh, where is your shirt, Bryan dear? _My poor babies!_ "

"Let him go."

Liliana stopped killing Bryan and slowly let him stand. He spat some of Cornelia's hair out of his mouth.

Edgar sat with his legs sprawled out before him, his head hung low as if attached by a string. "This is no time for happiness."

 _It rarely is,_ Bryan thought.

"Is she here, butty?" Francis asked his fellow batman.

"No."

Francis seized Edgar by the throat and thrust him against the nearest tree. Leaves floated down and disappeared like bubbles. "Why the fuck not? You promised you'd get her for me."

"I didn't have time." Edgar pried Francis's pincers away from his neck and pushed him back. "I thought I did, and I thought I would, but I fucking couldn't."

"Fuck you!" Francis struck the ground. And again. He was a jackhammer. "Fuck you. Fuck you."

"Fuck you," Edgar said. "Fuck you!"

"Fuck you!"

" _Stop_ ," Bryan said. "Just stop, okay? Isn't there something else we should be doing? Reclaiming the city and whatnot?"

"Fuck you!" Francis said to him.

"My darling Bryan is right." Liliana kicked at the ground, scattering leaves and dirt and pine needles in the air. She lifted the rusty lid from a manhole. A light flickered deep down at the bottom.

"What is this?" Bryan asked.

"It's… something for emergencies." Liliana turned to him and pawed at Cornelia. "Give her to me so you can climb down, darling. I'm sure some of your siblings will dance when they see you."

"No." Bryan had no intention of relinquishing Cornelia to someone like Liliana. "Who else is here, Liliana?"

Liliana glared at him. "I didn't raise you to act so rude to your old mommy."

"Is Markus here?"

"I'm… not sure. Go and see, darling. I will be right after you. Us adults have much to discuss."

Bryan started down the manhole, listening as best he could to the hushed conversation above. He kept Cornelia tight against his body with one arm and used his other to descend the ladder a bar at a time. It didn't take long until he felt hard and smooth ground beneath his feet.

As soon as Bryan turned around, people with familiar faces splattered in dirt surrounded him and muttered.

"Who's that? Bryan?"

"Yeah, it is." Krillin sounded like a kid who'd received science books for his birthday.

"Bryan." Markus pushed through the others and stopped in front of Bryan. Markus looked like a man carved from shit, with black crusty dirt swallowing him. But he was grinning. "Damn, it's good to see you, brother."

"You too," Bryan said.

"What happened to Cornelia?" Markus looked him up and down then crinkled his brow. "And your shirt?"

"A batman hurt her last night, but Francis healed her. She should wake up soon."

"Francis?"

"Don't ask me how." Bryan ventured deeper into the bunker, looking at the inhabitants. There were too few people. Not everyone made it here.

"You can give her to us now," Will said. Taranee stood beside her. Bryan nodded and lowered Cornelia into their arms, and immediately he missed her warmth.

"Thank you," they said, ghost-quiet, shrinking into the darkness to examine their friend. "Thank you so much."

Bryan watched them and it bothered him. He turned to Markus and whispered. "Who's missing?"

"Let's talk about that later." Markus made meaningful sweep of his eyes across the present survivors. What happened last night hit them all, and crushed others. "You understand."

 _Wounds don't heal overnight._ Bryan frowned. _Unless a batman kisses it._

"Darlings." Liliana just stepped off the ladder. Edgar and Francis followed suit. "Darlings, I'm sorry, we cannot wait nor search for anyone any longer. We must continue."

"Continue and do what?" Tien asked.

"We're going to whoop ass and win back our home." Francis rolled his eyes. "Duh, dumbass Triclops."

"This is all a load of crap." Tien pushed his way to stand in front of Liliana. He pointed at her while he spoke. "You and your two pets could be playing another game or 'contest' for all we know. Why the hell should we play along?"

"It isn't important, Tien." Piccolo's abyssal voice whirled around the small bunker. "We'll all end up playing along, real or not."

 _Piccolo has the right of it_. Bryan rubbed the prickly stubble engulfing his jaw. In another day or so he'd look like Abraham Lincoln.

Tien lowered his hand and cursed. "If you want to take back your home, why didn't you defend it in the first place? Why did you force us to escape into the forest?"

"Silly darling, we would have all died if we fought." Liliana stood on her tiptoes and tried to stroke Tien's cheek. "I understand your anger—I, I too have lost much—but the Batman Lords are too powerful for us."

Tien caught her wrist and narrowed his three eyes. "I don't believe that."

"It's the truth, darling. Now let go of your mommy."

The veins covering Tien's arms bulged out as he gripped Liliana's wrist tighter. "I don't believe any of this."

" _Let go_ , darling."

Various voices tuned in, quietly urging Tien to comply. Bryan knew why. _Liliana could break him like a frail tree caught in a tornado._ He'd seen what she, a human, did singlehandedly to a group of batmen.

Tien released her with a snort, and cursed as he walked away, deeper into the dark bunker.

Liliana lowered her gaze and shook her head. "He's so rebellious. Perhaps I should have better disciplined him when he was younger."

"I'll spank him for you now," Edgar said.

Francis struck his two fists together. "Yeah, spank the shit out of him. Literally."

"There's no time for that." Liliana moved to the wall. She ran her hands over it, searching. "It's been so long, I cannot seem to find it…. Bah, _he_ would've known where it is."

"Allow me." Edgar charged and double-kicked the wall so fast he looked like a bolt fired from a ballista. _This won't be fun_ , Bryan thought.

Dust and debris exploded and swallowed the room. A second later they were in the midst of a cough-and-sneeze symphony.

"Go on!" Liliana funneled them through the hole Edgar created. "Go on, dearies. No lollygagging."

The hole proceeded into a torch-lit cavern brimming with the smell of feces, death, and rot, as poignant as a mouthful of hard liquor.

Bryan covered his nose and mouth. There was no lollygagging here. Just gagging.

Francis inhaled deeply, like taking a long drag from a cigar. "Oh, how nostalgic, how reminiscent, how glorious!"

"It has been many years." Edgar glared at Bryan and the others. "Welcome to the Sanctuary, to the Batman Sewers. Know that this is a _great_ honor."

Bryan felt himself shudder. "Why the hell are we here?"

" _Because_!" Francis raised his hand as if to slap him.

"Because," Liliana said, putting a hand on Francis's bulbous shoulder, "it is the only path we can take to a potential ally."

Francis crossed his arms and rolled his eyes at Bryan. "Duh."

"Who is this ally?"

"That's none of your earwax, bulldog." Edgar leant on a slimy stone column. "Now, we'll need a disguise."

"Not quite yet." Liliana walked and gestured for everyone to follow. "An acquaintance of mine lives nearby, a friend of Lionel's…"

Bryan had felt something was amiss. "Where is Lionel, anyway?"

Liliana stopped solid in mid step.

"Shut—"

A colossal frozen hand crushed Bryan's airflow.

"—the fuck—"

It slammed him into the cavern wall.

"—up." The corners of Francis's mouth twitched as he barred his corroded teeth.

"Insensitive motherfucker." Edgar snarled in disdain. "You want us to remind everyone they've lost someone? Well, there you fucking go."

"Release Bryan and move on." Liliana shook her head briefly and continued on her way. "That is all we can do at present."

Francis obeyed with a snort and departed.

Bryan stood, rubbing life back into his throat and wiping away the grease the batman's hand left behind. He shook his head. Liliana mentioned Lionel first, and it's not like she had the memory of a goldfish.

"All right?" Markus asked.

"On top of the world. Let's go."

As they went on, the torches lining the wall diminished in number until the only light source was Liliana's lantern. It might have been wise to grab one of the torches along the way, but now it was too late.

Finally, they came to the end of the tunnel. Liliana stopped in front of a plain white door, totally dissimilar to its shitty surroundings. She turned around to face everyone, holding her lantern high. "Well, here we are. Everyone must follow my lead."

Markus eyed Liliana and furrowed his brow. "Who is this guy, your acquaintance?

"He's cool," Francis said.

Edgar nodded. "I sucked his dick once!"

"My brother befriended him during his rebellious stage, but he's a little sweetie pie." Liliana pursed her lips and stayed quiet for a moment. "Anyway, darlings, do as I do and you'll be fine."

She opened the door, dropped to her hands and knees, and crawled inside.

Bryan entered after the batmen and Markus. The hardwood floor felt smooth as wax to the touch. He looked around and saw the roof was four meters up. A crystalline chandelier hung in the room's center over a velvety red cushion. A bundle of feathers rested on top of the cushion.

Liliana sat in front of it and motioned for everyone else to do likewise.

After a moment Bryan smelt smoke, and dope. The pile of feathers ruffled, and it lifted its head. It looked like a duck, except it had a burning blunt hanging from its bill and it smiled. "Quack, bitches. I give ya wishes if ya suckle my dick."

"Sounds like a deal to me!" Edgar tried getting to his feet.

" _Remember_ what I said?" Liliana tugged him down by his ear and flicked his nose. She turned back to the duck. "Tell me truly, Mr. Duck, as the sister of your friend, do you still possess such power?"

Mr. Duck turned its head like a sloth to look at everyone, and gave a high pitched snicker. "Only one way for ya guys to know. Suck my dick!"

"Oh!" Edgar's hand shot into the air as if he were a school child. "Oh, me, me, pick me."

Liliana punched Edgar upside the head. "This is important," she said to the duck. "People are dying. Can you help us end this chaos?"

The duck's grin vanished. He puffed smoke from his mouth. "Nah. They too strong. They take most my power."

"I see." Liliana lowered her head and sighed. "I suppose there's only one other who could help us. It will be difficult to reach him."

Mr. Duck closed his eyes. "Nah, ya forgot the Legend."

"What legend?"

"The Legend," Edgar and Francis said together.

"The Batman Legend." Mr. Duck spread his wings out, and somehow they covered the entire breadth of the room. "I take ya partway, but before that: anyone wanna suck my dick?"

Bryan expected Edgar to volunteer but the batman sat in deep, silent thought, fixated on the ground. _He's like an ugly ass fish outside of water. Freaky._

The duck faded away in a blast of dank smoke.

Bryan saw pure white. He tried to rub his eyes but his arms proved too heavy. He felt as if he were swimming, and he struggled to move… and he heard snoring. He sat up in a hot room full of sleeping batmen.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, DBZ, or W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

Silence never distressed Tenten so much. The screams she'd heard all night came unexpectedly like thunder on a tranquil day, and because of them she felt like she was waiting, in the silence, for them to resume.

She leaned forward, feeling the manacles tighten as an anaconda would to constrict its prey. Ever since they'd put the manacles on, she'd felt so weak, as if they drained her energy.

She strained her eyes searching for her teammate. Limited light made it challenging. Their captors imprisoned them in these perforated boxes and abandoned them. Maybe the batmen left them to rot. _Not the way I imagined dying._

Tenten lied back as best she could and waited.

Soon as she dozed off, a commotion on the outside ensued. She and those beside her perked up and listened. The yelling came nearer, nearer, until she could discern words.

" _The fuck's been captured_!"

" _We got him_!"

" _Finally_!"

"CUT HIS FUCKING BALLS OFF!"

Then it moved on, became indistinguishable. It sounded bad. Tenten's heart wanted to exit her body via mouth. _Who'd they catch?_

She could only imagine and wait. And she did, for who knows how long, listening to the batmen's guttural applauding.

The water girl, Irma, beside Tenten, seemed to struggle not to weep. She couldn't see it, but she heard it by the way the girl breathed. Sucking the air in, fighting not to release it, but releasing it in little chunks at a time.

Tenten's throat felt so sore from thirst and overuse, even if something to say existed, she didn't think she could. And she didn't try.

 _Bang. Bang. BANG._

It became silent outside, as if all the batmen vanished in an instant. Poof.

The steel doors of their prison swung open. Soft morning sunlight touched Tenten's feet. Today could have been nice if it weren't for the armed batmen standing outside the box.

A batman smaller than the rest stepped forward. It surveyed them, shook its head, and turned around. "Take them."

Batmen launched toward them. One yanked Tenten upright by her shackles. Her head felt like boiling water filled it. Next thing she knew they were being herded through a mass of batmen to the center of the courtyard.

Thick black chains fastened Lionel to some kind of wooden pole protruding from the earth. His blond hair appeared dark reddish in places and stuck to his bruised, swollen face. He looked unconscious or dead.

Two batmen towered over Lionel's limp form, one in a deep purple armor and the other clad in light green.

"This is all of them." The purple armored batman spoke with a voice like burning coal, and he didn't bother to face them.

"A pity." The one arrayed in green did spin about to confront them. He wore a pink Jigsaw mask covered in scars and dry splatters of blood. "Allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Lord Stalin—"

"—and I am Lord Khan."

Together the two batmen gave low bows, and then stood. Khan wore a devilish yellow Oni mask, with long white hair sprouting all around it. Something about these batmen unsettled Tenten. Not their masks, but something more… instinctual.

"You are at our mercy," Stalin said. "If you fail to obey a command—hmm, Lord Khan, how do we punish such treason?"

One second Khan stood still, the next his spear poked out from the throat of a nearby batman. "Death."

The batman crumpled to the ground, and the spear reappeared in Khan's relaxed hands, as if by magic.

"Ah." Stalin nodded, and the Jigsaw mask's grin seemed to widen. "What about the failure to speak when spoken to?"

"Death."

"Failure to remain quiet when unaddressed in our presence?"

"Death."

"Failure to answer every question fully and honestly?"

"Death."

"Good, good. And how will they die?"

"Slow." Khan put his spear away and cracked his knuckles. "Slow and, frankly, agonizing."

"They get it." Lionel coughed and lifted his shaggy head to glare at the batmen, blood trickling from his mouth. His lungs sounded torn and full of grit. "Give it a fucking rest."

"Ah, so you've awoken at last!" Stalin said. "Catching up on some well-needed beauty sleep, eh?"

"You made quite some trouble for us." Khan tugged Lionel by his hair and wagged his finger at him. "Killing three of our Royal Guard was one thing, but setting your marijuana plantation aflame in spite of us…. Why, I'm wounded."

Lionel started to laugh but ended up wheezing. "My only regret… is that your corpse isn't helping fuel the fire, as it would have been, were we to meet in the beginning of battle."

"How quaint," Stalin said. "You do know that without your product, you are worthless to us?"

"What you do or do not hold of value means nothing to me. So fuck you."

"You are sentenced to death." Khan slammed Lionel's head against the pole he was tied to. He stood, brushed off his hands, and gestured for his guards. "Crucify him."

The guards wrestled the chains from Lionel's body and flipped him upside down. Other batmen came, holding nails the size of Kunai, and mallets.

 _This can't actually be happening._ Tenten stiffened. This must be a trick, or something, because Edgar and Francis wouldn't go so far to terrorize them.

The batmen hammered the nails into his hands and feet.

Tenten lowered her gaze, ready for Lionel to scream. And he did; curses, and then nonsense and plain screaming. He stopped after some time.

Tenten shuddered. Even though, as a Kunoichi, she's killed before, she found it difficult to tolerate when one screams in pain.

"You, woman with the unkempt buns, who are you?" Lord Stalin stared at her, his eyes unflinching behind the Jigsaw mask.

"Me?" Tenten swallowed. She sounded so timid, so _frail_ , like a sick and frightened puppy. It disgusted her.

"Obviously. State your name."

"Tenten."

"Ah, you looked familiar." Stalin motioned for her to step closer.

She did, determined to act without hesitation.

"I see." He ambled around her in circles. "Yes, yes, I can see why he likes you so much."

"What are you talking about?" Tenten asked. Then her cheek felt like a wasp stung it and she found herself face down in the dirt. She struggled to push herself to her feet. Her body felt a thousand pounds heavier, and the manacles' weight didn't make it any easier.

Stalin loomed over her, his hand upraised, and his head shaking in disapproval. "You are so pretentious, to question me so. Whom do you think I am, your husband?"

"I still don't know what you're talking about." _That probably wasn't a good idea._

He stared for a moment. He laughed, and it sounded like a motor fighting to start. "My boy and I have similar tastes in women. Feisty. He will have to change his Facebook status to 'single' once I finish with you."

Stalin struck her down again, and this time she landed on her back. The sky looked blurry. She didn't think she could move.

"Guards, take her to my suite. Treat her gently."

Two batmen hoisted her to her feet and started to haul her away.

"No!" _Neji_.

Her teammate tackled one of the batmen aside.

 _This is bad,_ she thought. _This is bad_. She wrestled herself out of the other batman's grip, twisted like an alligator in its death roll, and she hit her knees.

"No more." Stalin used his leg to mash Neji into the floor. "Guards, crucify this one. You, go on, take her to my suite."

" _No_." Tenten flung her body at Stalin, but, but… someone caught her.

"I got you, Tenny." Nappa held her in his arms and gave her a sweet smile. "I would never let any of these bitches hurt you."

"Who is this?" Khan asked.

"Guards, seize him!"

Nappa placed two fingers to his forehead. "Instant transmission no jutsu!"

Tenten felt weightless and the world went white for a second. She heard a distant ruckus, full of angry screaming and movement. Then she saw Nappa's grin.

" _My boy_ ," Hercule whispered _._ "You shouldn't have done that. It was too dangerous."

"But I saved Tenny!"

"I know, my boy, but they could have captured you. You wouldn't want to leave your pa alone, would you?"

Tenten tried to wiggle out of Nappa's arms but he didn't allow her to. "Where are we?" she asked. "Where's Neji?"

"We're in my secret underground base." Nappa stared into her eyes. "I saved you, my sweet Tenny."

"What about Neji?"

"Duh, I couldn't save him too. And I, I…" He looked away from her, his face growing pink as a radish. "Well, anyway, um, he's somewhere up there."

As soon as the enraged yelling diminished above, she heard shouting begin anew. Different shouting. Shouting saturated with pain. _Guards, crucify this one._

" _Neji_!"

Hercule covered her mouth and shushed her. "We have to be quiet, otherwise they'll find us. Shh, shh…"

Tenten could still hear him screaming. Even through multiple meters of earth, she heard him. And it continued on and on. As a Kunoichi, she knew something like this could happen, but that didn't prepare her for it. As a Kunoichi, she shouldn't cry, but…

Silence, she thought, would never soothe her so much as it would now.

* * *

Sorry that Tenten is OOC, you know, considering she didn't react much to Neji's death in the manga.

Also, Hercule adopted Nappa as his son.


End file.
